I believe that God is calling forth a new breed of Theologians. Kingdom Theologians. Not over-educated, pious, and lofty-minded theologians, but ones who learn theology the way it was originally meant to be learned, that is -  “Union with God through prayer.”

  When the word ‘theological’ or ‘theologian’ is brought up in conversation most folks instantly get a mental image of dusty age-old books stacked ceiling high in the study of an old professor’s parsonage. This may be the common conception of theology or of theologians, but it not the correct one. Jesus, being the perfect Son, was the perfect theologian, and He is perfect theology. And He did not walk in power, grace, and truth because of years of eschatological and hermeneutical studies. His power was a product of physically living what He was teaching. There was no separation in His life between what He knew and what He did.

God is raising up from among us sons and daughters who walk in Spirit and Truth.  Not quasi-religious, paganistic, free floating spiritualists who define “God” by their own fancies, but children who are rooted in the word and who know God through communion. A people whose lives are not fractured by knowing the Word but failing to live it out.

  Pastor Philip explains this best when he says, “Experience without word often leads to flakiness. While word without experience often leads to legalism. We need to be a people that Experience the Word.”

Paul writes to Timothy and defines it as, “Having a form of godliness but denying it’s power.”

This profound statement is the heartbeat of true theology. To be a knower and doer of The Word. To both understand The Word and experience it.

This new breed of Kingdom Theologians will not speak of things they do not know. Instead, they will emulate Jesus' words, “I only say what I have heard from my Father, and I testify of things that I have seen.”

A pharisaical and religious spirit is not one that sings hymns, reads a King James Bible, or does not speak in tongues. The spirit of Religion is upon those who say things about Jesus that has never truly changed them.  It’s the spirit that settles in complacent knowledge of God without ever having experienced Him.

It is this spirit of religiosity that is stifling and asphyxiating modern theology.
  
In Matthew 7 Jesus says of such living, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me!’

Everything that Jesus ever said was from the place of experience. His words were eternally powerful because they were born from perfect union with the Father.
 Likewise, the disciple John affirms such living in 1 John 1:1, saying, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—  that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full."

Western Christianity got something terribly wrong. We try to figure God out before we ever experience Him. It is for this type of thinking and living that Jesus rebukes a herd of religious leaders in John 5:39, saying, “You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.  But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”       

Christ perfectly illustrates the point I am trying to make here.  “Hey religious leaders, you haven’t heard God’s voice or experienced his presence yet. You know the word but you haven’t experienced it. It’s not in you yet. You think searching the scriptures or reciting them is going to give you eternal life, but those scriptures are about me! If you want both Spirit and truth than you must come to Me. Without me you can read the scriptures all day long and they will do you no good.” (Paraphrase)

 All the disciples and the apostles experienced God before they sought to define Him. True theology is born of communion with God. Not intellectual analysis. God will not be reduced to the scientific method nor will He be found on the lips of those that speak of things they do not know.

Jeremiah 23:21 defines a false prophet in this manner, “I (God) have not sent these prophets yet then ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.”

 This is true theology – John 3:11, (Jesus talking to a Religious Leader of Israel named Nicodemus) “Most assuredly, I say to you, I speak what I know and testify what I have seen.”   

The Message puts it this way,
       "You're a respected teacher of Israel and you don't know these basics? Listen carefully. I'm speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay.” 

    I encourage you with great zeal; delve whole-heartedly into the Word of God and Prayer. True theology is walking in Spirit and Truth. You don’t have to have a PHD in Theology to walk in Spirit and Truth. All you need is a pure and hungry heart that is dedicated to knowing The Word of Truth and walking it out by the Power of The Holy Spirit.

 Kingdom Theologians come forth!